Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The Keweenaw County Board approved a motion Wednesday to allow Grant Township to dispose of wastewater in the county-owned ponds in Houghton Township. Left to right are commissioners Del Rajala, Jim Vivian, Chairman Don Piche, Sandra Gayk, and Bob DeMarois.

EAGLE RIVER — The Keweenaw County Board passed a motion Wednesday to allow Grant Township to dispose of waste water in the county-owned ponds in Houghton Township until the treatment plant in Copper Harbor is repaired.

“They had a failure in their primary lagoon,” said Zane Hyrkas, project manager with OHM of Hancock, who is working with the township. “Right now, they’re holding all their sewage that they can; they’re not discharging anything at the moment. The DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) has said as long as they can stay within their permit limits, they can continue discharging. They’ve been building up to this point; they’re going to start discharging, as long as they can stay within their permit limits.”

Board Chairman Don Piche said that right now the county’s ponds are at capacity, and need to be run off.

“The Health Department hasn’t approved a run-off yet, because tests haven’t come back,” Piche said, “but when the tests come back, they’re going to run off 10 million gallons from the ponds.”

Once that is done, Piche said there will be more than ample capacity to handle Grant Township’s waste water.

“Historically, our local haulers dump about 300,000 gallons into our ponds a year,” Piche said. “Copper Harbor could dump another 300,000 gallons, so we have more than enough room to do that.”

Once the facility in Grant Township has reached its permit levels, other options will be considered.

“Then we’re looking at some period that they would have to do a haul-off,” Hyrkas told the board, “likely, until they can get some modifications made to add aeration, some additional treatment, so they can get back within their permit limits.”

Board member Del Rajala expressed concern over the length of time the township would require to have the lagoon repaired and if the township could raise the funds to do it.

Hyrkas said the township currently has a bid out for modifications to the treatment plant’s second lagoon.

“They’re adding aeration and some other equipment to allow them to continue treatment with utilizing only their second lagoon,” said Hyrkas. “Their primary lagoon is not in operation right now.”